Get a UK VPN to Protect Your Transactions

Great Britain has become a juicy target for hackers in the wake of the recent economic crisis. Identity fraud is on the rise even as small and medium-sized businesses strive to shore up security on tight budgets. Consumer databases are veritable gold mines to hackers. The sum of losses now reaches tens of billions of pounds per year, most suffered by SMEs and their customers. UK VPN services are an inexpensive security solution to manage cyber theft threats.

The Federation of Small Businesses in the United Kingdom reported last month that their members are often victims of online identity fraud. Over 40% of them have reported online security breaches that resulted in the loss of data and money over the past year. This has put many of their customers under attack as well. The increasing cost of cyber crimes in the region has put an additional strain on the already suffering economy. The FSB reported an average loss of 4 thousand pounds per victimized UK SME. In Scotland alone, 160 pounds is lost every second, and the numbers grow daily.IT security provider Symantec issued a report earlier this year that online crimes cost the UK much more than the illegal drugs market.

Authorities state that small businesses in the UK are especially vulnerable. They do not have the financial resources that larger companies do. This limits their IT security budget and makes them easy targets for online fraud through data hacks. Lesser known brands also provide anonymity to fraudsters, security experts note. Smaller businesses are more lax when it comes to customer transactions. This invites online thieves to attempt more hacks into their data bases that frequently succeed. The result is an increased success rate for fraudulent transactions, their final step.

Consumer Losses

British consumers suffer great losses from hacked business databases and hijacked transactions. Unsecure payment systems are often to blame for hijacked customer accounts. It is not easy to detect a security breach if the database is not consistently monitored. Most smaller businesses in the UK do not have the security budget to have a good monitoring system in place. When accounts are hijacked and funds accessed by hackers, the account holder often realizes the unusual activity only weeks later, if at all.It is then often difficult to trace the activity and to find those responsible.

Security experts now warn, however, that malware infected computers in the UK are more and more the cause of successful hacks. Especially in times of economic difficulty, most people take advantage of free online services and WiFi hotspots. These unsecured locations are closely monitored by online fraudsters. Any consumers transacting here are very open to theft.

UK users are becoming aware of the problem and are taking better care to ensure that the devices they use to make online transactions are secure. One increasingly popular method to shield devices from malware infection is the use of a personal virtual private network (VPN). This tool encrypts the data and traffic communicated by the device to the receiving computer so it is very difficult to steal and unreadable in the unlikely event of a database hack on the business’ end.

Business Losses

In cases where unauthorized transactions are detected and reported early, consumers can often retrieve their losses. When no negligence is present on the part of the customer, the business takes full responsibility for the theft. Class action law suits are also becoming more popular as more and more UK consumers are victimized by online theft and fraud.

Many smaller UK businesses do not see cyber crime as a great threat to them because they are small. They mistakenly believe that hackers prefer bigger, richer targets. Many of these businesses also think that if they do not store credit card or other financial account information that they are not placing their consumers’ financial accounts in danger. They do not recognize that merely keeping emails, names, and contact information is enough for hackers to gain access. A hacker may for instance pretend to be a useful business contact. After hacking the email, a hacker anywhere in the world can access business files and select a customer. Posing as that customer, undetected, the hacker can now register accounts, manipulate direct debits, make purchases, and re-route foreign exchange transactions, all as the UK account holder.The increasing popularity of employees using personal devices for work is also increasing the risk of infecting business systems. Without adherence to proper payment security standards, the business is responsible for the losses.

Security experts are encouraging UK businesses to realize that there are alternative solutions to costly IT security upgrades. Most small businesses do not have IT-managed systems as they are often run by a single proprietor. They mostly use free services for data storage and communications because of budget constraints. Experts now suggest the use of simple UK VPN software to secure online communications with customers. This affordable solutions will not only prevent consumer loses but will mitigate associated business loses in the form of intellectual property, productivity during system down time, legal fees, customer refunds, competitive advantage and profit loses due to reputation damage.Here is the top 5 list of vpn providers that offer UK VPN service.